Bellevue Police Sunday arrested a 28-year-old Monroe man suspected of holding up a Factoria drugstore for prescription painkillers.

At about 12:30 a.m. on Dec. 16, the suspect entered the Factoria Rite Aid. He displayed what appeared to be a gun to the pharmacy staff along with a poorly written note demanding several bottles of OxyContin, an opiate-based painkiller to which people can become addicted.

After the man fled, the pharmacy manager called police, described the suspect and reported the direction he went. Officers swarmed the area and spotted the suspect near a car wash across the street from the Rite Aid. When an officer commanded him to stop, the suspect ran. After several minutes, police tackled the suspect.

The man threw the pill bottles away while he was being chased, but police recovered the bottles. A search of the suspect turned up an air pistol realistic enough to have convinced the pharmacy staff it was a real gun.

The suspect was taken into custody and booked into the King County Jail on suspicion of first-degree armed robbery. The case was referred to the King County Prosecutor.

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